The present disclosure relates to a process and a device for removing iodine using gold particles, and, more particularly, to a process and a device for removing iodine using gold particles which may be applied to remove iodine present in various types of solution, specifically and efficiently, within a short time, using the strong binding properties of iodine and gold particles.
Various types of iodine compound included in waste water are present as isotope compounds of various iodine elements, having masses of 123, 124, 125, 127, 129, 131, 132, 133, etc. The chemical behaviors of iodine compounds are the same, while iodine elements having masses of 123, 124, 125, 129, 131, 132, and 133 are radioactive as radioisotopes. Such radioactive iodine has been utilized in the treatment and diagnosis of serious diseases, such as thyroid cancer or the like, in the clinical field for the past several decades, and has been widely used in various radiation related industries and biological studies. For example, iodine-123, iodine-124, and iodine-125 are mainly used as isotopes for diagnosis, and iodine-131 is being utilized as an isotope for treatment elements typically used in clinical practice. As the utilization of radioactive iodine continues to increase in a variety of fields, additionally generated radioactive iodine waste has also increased significantly.
In recent years, as thyroid cancer patients have increased greatly, the amount of iodine-131 used, in particular, for the treatment of thyroid cancer has increased rapidly. In addition, the leakage of iodine-131, which was leaked in large quantities during the Fukushima, Japan nuclear power plant accident in 2011, is recognized as a major disaster globally, and it is known that no complete solution has been found so far. When such radioactive iodine is absorbed indiscriminatedly in the human body in large amounts, cancer, inappropriate production of hormones, or the like may occur, and environmental pollution may also become serious. Therefore, it may be very important to efficiently treat and remove radioactive iodine waste discharged into the environment.
As a typical radioactive iodine removal technique currently used, there is a method of adsorbing and removing radioactive iodine in water by using activated carbon. However, this method requires the use of relatively bulky, activated carbon. Therefore, a new type of solid radioactive waste may continue to be generated, and removal efficiency thereof may be low. As another method, a technique utilizing silver, in which silver is reacted with radioactive iodine to induce precipitation of the radioactive element, with the radioactive iodine being subsequently removed, has been used. However, silver may be easily adsorbed onto other halogen ions, for example, chlorine (Cl—), so it is known that this another method, also, has poor removal efficiency of radioactive iodine and requires relatively high costs, compared to other methods.
In this regard, Korean Patent Application No. 1986-0001581 discloses a method of removing an iodized compound from a non-aqueous organic medium, which includes contacting a medium containing an iodized compound with an ion-exchange resin, which is a strong acid cation exchange resin having a macroreticular structure that is stable in an organic medium, and of which at least 1% of an active portion is converted into a silver or hydrargyrum form. However, continuous iteration of the method is very difficult to perform, and the method requires a great deal of precipitation time, as well as measures to remove the precipitates reliably. If precipitates are not clearly removed, the overall iodine removal efficiency may be reduced. In particular, the method is not economical because it uses expensive silver compounds.
Moreover, a method of selectively removing radioactive iodine present in water by using bentonite, containing ionic copper, has been recently developed. However, the radioactive iodine removal efficiency of this method is not high, and a relatively long time is required to remove the radioactive iodine. Thus, if a method of removing iodine in an economical, specific, and efficient manner, within a short period of time, is developed, the method is expected to be usefully applied in related fields.